Wireless terminals often have better and/or more current information regarding the quality of downlinks than is available to network elements. For example, core elements which are coupled to multiple base stations may have somewhat out-of-date information regarding the quality of particular links corresponding to different base stations to which a wireless terminal may be attached. In addition, core network elements may not be aware of current traffic loading conditions at a base station.
Some wireless terminals have the ability to support multiple wireless communications links at the same time. The different links may be with different attachment points, e.g., base stations or sectors. Because different links may correspond to different physical points of attachment or different frequency bands, the signal conditions on different links maintained at the same time can vary. For purposes of routing traffic it may be desirable to use the link with the better channel conditions at a particular point in time. However, depending on traffic loading in a cell, delays in getting traffic segments assigned or other conditions may make a link with lower channel quality than another link more preferable at a particular point in time.
It would be desirable if the wireless terminal's knowledge of link quality could be used in selecting which link should be used at a particular point in time. It would also be desirable if a base station were allowed a degree of flexibility in selecting which of a plurality of links to use at a particular point in time so that information known to the base station could be used in making a determination as to which link to use to communicate information to a wireless terminal.
In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need for methods of allowing a wireless terminal to influence which one of a plurality of communications links will be used to send downlink signals, e.g., user data such as text, audio and/or image data, etc., to a wireless terminal at a particular point in time.